About the Ottawa Beatles
Site

Photo by John Whelan on location at "Louis
Tussaud Wax Museum" in Niagara Falls,
Ontario

If you are a fan of the Beatles, this site is
yours to explore, enjoy and support. We keep in touch with other Beatles
organizations in Canada, and are happy to publicize their activities. We
specialize in historical information and interviews with the Beatles and their
associates. Some of the historical information was culled from a few local
newspapers, most noteworthy are The Ottawa Citizen and The Ottawa Journal. We
would like to thank the good folks at The Ottawa Citizen for allowing us to
reprint many of their articles as reported in their paper over the years. As of
late, the Ottawa Beatles Site has also contributed several news leads to the
Citizen (see one example listed below). While the Ottawa Journal has been
defunct now for several decades, their articles were as equally impressive and
entertaining to read. Their reports are listed under "Articles of Historical
Interest".

The origins of this site are in Ottawa in
1995. There was a group of fans, like you, who felt that it was about time
that Ottawa had its own Beatles Convention. Led by Alan Chrisman, and with
the help of over 80 volunteers, the first Ottawa Beatles Convention
was held September 9, 1995 at the Ottawa Congress Centre. The most
gratifying part was that the convention brought together so many Beatles
fans of all ages. It proved that there were a lot of Beatles fans in this
area, and a potential for future events. Of course, 1995 was a good year
to start a Beatles Convention, because this was a very big Beatles year,
with the release of the long-awaited Beatles Anthology discs and videos,
and the major TV specials.

We welcomed even more visitors from far as
well as near at the 1996 Convention at the Ottawa Museum of Science and
Technology, where John Lennon's psychedelic Rolls Royce was also on
display (see photos on our home page).

From the enthusiasm for the conventions
grew this Web Site, as a platform for a continual exchange of ideas and
comment on the Beatles. It was opened on 31 March
96.

Ottawa Beatles Site proprietor Tony Copple was interviewed by Jeff Brown of CHEZ 106 FM in Ottawa on 8 December 2005, the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death:

We put up a counter on the site home page on June 5, 1999,which
reached:

The Beatles Timeline was launched with
the new millennium, January 1, 2000. The Beatles Timeline is the brainchild of
our chief researcher John Whelan, and provides accurate history and key events.

Take some time to check out the Ottawa
Beatles Site, which will give you the opportunity to become more directly
involved and exchange your thoughts with us and other Beatles fans. We
also provide links to our favourite Beatles web sites.

The Beatles are appreciated all over the
world. We are based in Ottawa, Canada, and receive feedback from Beatles
fans internationally.

Please help us publicize this site by
telling your friends. In fact, why not send an e-mail today to two music
fans you know and tell them the site URL: beatles.ncf.ca

Annmarie Wilhelm chats with Louise Harrison at the 1996
convention

-------------------------------

You can access either of the
two discussion groups: the local discussion group run by this site, or
rec.music.beatles, the huge worldwide forum for Beatles news and comment.
Only Ottawa National Capital Freenet (NCF) members may post to the local
group.

To access the discussion
groups, Freenet users should "go beatles" to enter the NCF Beatles IP
Area. The Web Site is on the IP area main menu. The IP area also allows a
more user-friendly access to Site information for Lynx browsers. If you
are not an NCF member, the discussion groups may still be accessed from
the web site though it's a bit more of a pain.

----------------------------

There was a major Beatles Fan
club and Newsletter published in Ottawa: The World Beatles Forum. We
maintained contact with publisher Brad Howard until his operation merged with Beatlology magazine in late 2005.

Historical Interlude

The remainder of this page
contains a shortened version of the text of the historic first (short)
newsletter of the original Ottawa Beatles Fan Club.

Spotted by your webmaster in a
store-front in New
Orleans, city of music

ATTENTION BEATLES FANS!

THE FIRST OTTAWA BEATLES FAN CLUB AND NEWSLETTER
- NOVEMBER 1995

The first Ottawa Beatles Convention was held
September 9, 1995 at the Ottawa Congress Centre. Over 1200 people attended that
day from as far away as Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, and the U.S.A.. There
was a Beatles museum and gallery, a video room, a dealers' area and live
Beatles-influenced bands performed throughout the day. In keeping with the
theme, "Cavern Days", Pete Best, the original Beatles drummer and his band from
Liverpool, performed and made a personal appearance. Also, there was a kickoff
show at a local club, much like The Cavern, called The Cave. Beatles films were
shown at the Mayfair Theatre that weekend. It was a great success and there have
been many requests to do it again next year.

Therefore, The Ottawa Beatles Convention
committee members have decided to do just that. We are already planning next
year's convention with many exciting surprises. We're really just a group of
fans, like you, who felt it was about time that Ottawa had its own Beatles
Convention. With the help of over 50 volunteers, we succeeded in putting on the
first Beatles Convention in Ottawa. For us, the most gratifying part was that we
were able to bring together so many Beatles fans of all ages (we were surprised
at how many teenagers and young adults participated and attended, which proves
just how timeless The Beatles and their music are); a cross- section of people
and how we were able to connect with each other. We proved that there were a lot
of Beatles fans in this area and the potential for future events.

Of course, 1995 was a good time to start an
Ottawa Beatles Convention, because as you know, this is going to be a very big
Beatles year with the long-awaited Beatles Anthology being released (with
several television specials) the week of November 19. The Anthology will include
the first new songs by the remaining Beatles with John Lennon's voice. This will
be truly a remarkable and historic Beatles event.

Therefore, we thought it would be an appropriate
time to launch a BEATLES FAN CLUB and a BEATLES NEWSLETTER in this area. Now
that we've proven that there are hundreds of Beatles fans in the area, this
would be a good way to keep in touch with you and inform you of our plans and
events. As well, this would give you the opportunity to become more directly
involved and exchange your thoughts with us and other Beatles fans. The BEATLES
NEWSLETTER would carry Beatles news, local and otherwise, etc.. It would come
out on a regular basis and may eventually turn into a full-fledged Beatles
magazine with reviews, articles, collectors' contacts, upcoming dealers' shows,
letters from fans, contests, and special offers.

DISCUSSIONS by Brad Howard

This column will review interesting Beatles
recordings. We will examine both mainstream and underground releases; past and
present.

"TO BE EXPECTED" - The Beatles Strawberry
Records SAMPLER 001 (PROMO)

Well, it had to happen: a promo release of a
bootleg! The good folks at Strawberry Records have provided the Beatles
collector with some incredible listening, in the past. George Harrison's "Songs
For Patti: The Master Tape Version" and "Beware Of ABKCO"; Paul McCartney's
"Unsurpassed Masters Volume One" and "Unsurpassed Masters Volume Two" are four
superb studio quality discs. The Harrison recordings are especially clear and
crisp. One gets the impression that George is in the room demonstrating his
songs, personally, to you.

"TO BE EXPECTED" is not at all what I expected.
It is a Beatles sampler disc; a 'best of'' from recent and upcoming "Yellow
Dog", "Yellow Cat", "Orange", and "Strawberry" releases. But, it gets worse.
Despite the interesting, colour Beatles cover, it really is not a Beatles CD at
all. It is mostly a collection of excellent sounding solo stuff and a few
snippets of "Let It Be" film rehearsals. The selections are a nice
representation of ex-Beatles efforts. If you have never heard any of the songs,
then this disk might be a pleasant purchase. BUT, the main problem with this
disc is that it truly lives up to be what it says it is - a sampler. That's
right, each song is sampled! If you want to listen to a CD of half songs, then
this CD is for you. Some of the sampled songs are from the four Strawberry
releases mentioned above. Seek these out and get them, if you can. Other songs
are from pending releases. If you are like me, you probably will try to find
these CDs, too!

In summary, "TO BE EXPECTED" was a
disappointment. It clearly had the potential of being a highly desired disc, but
proved only to be a dud and a tease.

Unless you read about this release in the
Beatles fanzines or saw the British news coverage, you might have missed this
Beatles- related release. The CD covers and the CD are very simple and contain
virtually no information about the music inside. In fact, many well-known
artists contribute tracks to this benefit CD and their names are duly listed on
an information sticker. However, one name is missing: Paul McCartney. You will
not find his name in the hastily written insert notes, nor is he mentioned in
the song lineup. When I purchased my copy, a fuzzy photocopy of the CD song
contents was given to me by the store. McCartney does not even receive a
songwriting credit for his track contribution: "COME TOGETHER." Together with
Paul Weller, he has recorded a new version, of this mostly Lennon-penned song,
under the name: THE MOJO FILTERS. Weller assumes the lead vocal throughout, with
McCartney reprising his famous Beatles' backing vocal.

Eighteen dollars is a lot of money to spend on
one CD for one track for a backing vocal. But, buy this CD to help innocent
children survive. There's good music on this disc, too!

Tribute albums often suffer from questionable
interpretations or inferior, carbon-copies of known hits. But, this is not the
case here. Listening to this CD, one gets an understanding of the meaning of the
title: For The Love Of Harry. Everybody here loves Harry. The guest list is
impressive; from Randy Newman to Jimmy Webb and Victoria Williams to Jellyfish.
Ringo is here too! This time he sings a previously unheard Nilsson song, "LAY
DOWN YOUR ARMS" in a duet with Stevie Nicks. Unfortunately, this combination
just does not work. Ringo and Stevie hit all the right notes, but their vocals
are wooden. The song is not one of Harry's best efforts, but the message in the
lyrics is a worthy one.

However, this disc is definitely worth owning.
Randy Newman singing, "REMEMBER" and Peter Wolf's version of the expletive
"YOU'RE BREAKIN' MY HEART" make this album a must.

In case you missed this year's Convention or
would like to re-live this exciting event, we have souvenir photographs and a
video available for separate purchase. Please write for details. Also available,
are limited quantities of our LIMITED EDITION Ottawa Beatles Convention '95
T-shirts ($12 each) and "Cavern Days" posters ($5 each).